medical testing question

sheezbusy said:

Just wondering the best age to check for cardiomyopathy issues. I am assuming they do an echo to look at the heart. Also, if and when do you check for thyroid problems? Lexie has a vet appointment comming up. She has had her first two distempers and will be brought up to date on her shots. Any other tests to be done?
Happy Easter!
Lisa

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Echoes are done. Also 24 hour holter monitoring, to check for rhythm disturbances, which can be a precursor to DCM and sudden death. There's also a new blood test being touted as a predictor of future heart problems. although it's not widely used yet, and some cardiologists are on the fence about whether it's accurate or useful.

My almost 2 year old bitch will start regular cardiac testing within the next few months. I'll probably do that annually until she's 5 or so. my almost 6 year old male gets echoes done twice a year.

Thyroids should be checked annually after 18 months-2 years of age.

Really, the only definitive test that can be performed on a puppy is the dna test for vWD. Depending on the status of the parents, it might be a good idea to do that..if either parent is known to be vWD clear, then I wouldn't bother if the dog is never going to be used for breeding-a clear dog can never produce an affected puppy. If both parents are carriers, or one carrier and one affected, then I'd do the dna test-it's a good idea to know vWD status.

but that's something you do yourself, with a swab which you obtain from Vetgen, and send back to them for the results. www.vetgen.com . Don't waste your money on the ELISA blood test for vWD your vet performs-there's a high percentage of errors, and an overlap between categories, all of which makes it not reliable to diagnose vWD status.

sheezbusy said:

Just wondering the best age to check for cardiomyopathy issues. I am assuming they do an echo to look at the heart. Also, if and when do you check for thyroid problems? Lexie has a vet appointment comming up. She has had her first two distempers and will be brought up to date on her shots. Any other tests to be done?
Happy Easter!
Lisa

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Yes, they do an echo and EKG and give you a print out and measurements as well as an interpretation of what the measurements mean. At least my cardiologist does--he sees quite a few Dobes and has actually worked out a somewhat adjusted list of measurements for Dobes echos.

I've started checking my dogs for cardio (echo and extended EKG) sometime between two and three. I do this not necessarily because I'm expecting to find much or because I intend to breed them but just because I want to know what's there and I want a baseline evaluation so I know what's there when they are young.

It's true that Dobes sometimes die at young ages (I know of a puppy who was only about 7 months who died the sudden death type--there was a necropsy done and it was DCM but from arythmias) and I also know that some people are having holters done (much more likely to find evidence of arrythmias there than on a 15 mnute EKG) on very young dogs. I recently rejoined a Dobe club as an associate member so that I can borrow the club owned holter and will be doing holters at a younger age and certainly oftener than I have in the past.

I do a full panel thyroid test (the works--T-4, T-4 by ED, TSH and some other stuff (which escapes me at the moment) at two. I now do these with Antech instead of sending them off to UOM (or Dr Jean Dodds, since she uses Antech as well) because they actually do all of the full panels. Used to be only UOM (or is it MU?) did those. If, I was seeing any sort of evidence that the dog might have an early thyroid problem I'd do the full panel much younger but I've only had one who actually was low (very) thyroid at two--most of them have been much older (7, 9)

If I don't know what the dogs vWD status is by parentage (actually even if I do) I do a gene test with VetGen. And because I'm incredibly curious I also now do a gene test for coat color (which I didn't do on the fawn dog--what you sees is what you gets with him--bbdd).

I usually start looking for a CERF clinic at the first shows I go to--one of the best board certified opthamologists in the area has been doing CERF's at shows in Washington and Oregon for years--it's much less expensive than making an appointment with him at the specialty clinic. So I usually do a CERF between 6 months and a year. I've never had a dog with any sort of eye problems and since I don't breed mine I don't usually retest oftener than once every 2 to 4 years. If I were breeding I'd test yearly for males and before every breeding for bitches.

I do OFA x-rays for both hips and elbows as soon as they are two.

I know I'm forgetting something but I can't think what--so that's what I do and sort of the age ranges that I do the testing.